Artificial
by 13percenter
Summary: Cameron decides that she'd like to make a few alterations, but John tries to explain that sometimes it's best to leave the original alone.


Ladies and Gentlemen, before we begin I'd like to bring you all a brief public service announcement! It seems that the bas…I mean…executives at Fox, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to cancel Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. There are a few things we can do to help keep the series, or at least its memory, alive. Continue to write fan fiction, buy the season DVD's, and visit for more information on saving the series.

Disclaimer: I don't own Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. If I did, we'd see a lot more John and Cameron, lots more Triple-Eight bashing, and I wouldn't leave us with cliffhangers at the end of a season or the end of the freakin' series.

This short little story was spawned by a rather animated argument about this subject at work...Hey...It was a slow night OK?  
The setting should be considered to be mid season two I guess, but it doesn't much matter.

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Artificial

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John noticed the door was open to Cameron's room as he walked to his own. She was inside, looking at herself in the mirror. John watched silently, holding his breath, as she smoothed the front of her shirt down, drawing it snugly over her curves. He caught a gasp in his throat as Cameron turned around.

She observed him silently for a second, tilting her head slightly. "Do you think I should undergo a breast augmentation and bleach my hair blonde? I think I should."

"Wh...What?" It was John's turn to tilt his head now "Why?"

"My research indicates that males are more responsive to females with large breasts, as well as exhibiting a preference for blonde hair." She turned, inspecting her form in the mirror once again. "It could prove to be useful during future infiltration attempts."

"No...No, no, no, no,_ noooooo way!"_ John shook his head "I think you're...Bad idea...Just, don't...OK?"

"Why? Would you not be pleased if I had larger-"

"Stop!" John held his hands up, before grabbing her wrists "Come with me!"

"Derek!" John dragged Cameron downstairs into the living room, where Derek was situated on the couch. John marched directly between Derek and the television. "_Derek!"_

"Hey!" Derek moved, trying to see around them "Oh damn it you made me miss the touch down!"

"This is important" John glared at him

Derek reached for a new bottle of beer waiting for him on the table "What is it then?"

"Do you believe I should undergo a breast augmentation? My research indica-"

"Augma what now?" Derek twisted the cap from the bottle

"Just explain why they're a bad idea."

"Why what's a bad idea?" He took a long sip

John rolled his eyes "She wants fake...You know!" he cupped his hands and gestured at his own chest

Derek choked, launching streams of beer from his nostrils and soaking the couch "SHE WHAT!" He looked down at his soaked clothes "Shit!" Derek jumped to his feet before pointing his finger at Cameron "It's a BAD idea! BAD!"

She tilted her head a bit "I don't understand. This would be an improvement."

"Look, Cameron, it's...SARAH!" Derek grabbed Cameron's wrist "SARAH!"

"Out here Derek!" Her voice came in through the open window from the direction of the garage.

"Sarah! Sarah I need help! You need to talk to Cameron! I think there might be something wrong with her! She's got to have a virus or something, and John can't figure out how to fix it!"

Derek returned a moment later, to find John still standing in the living room. Derek sat down, wiping his clothes off with a rag. "Where did she get _that _idea?"

"Well, if I had to take a guess" John ran his hands through his hair "It's from the guys at school who talk about girls like you might talk about the steak you wanted for dinner."

"Yhea. Jerks." Derek sipped his beer again "Anyway, look, you mind? Games on for another twenty minutes here."

"Yhea, yhea, whatever" John climbed the stairs to his room "Mom knows how to handle this."

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John was lying on his bed, trying to relax in silence, when his mother's voice crashed through the house like thunder. "JOOOHHHN!"

He jumped to his feet, reaching for the door handle. Before he could open it, it burst open and Sarah shoved Cameron through the door "You wanted her to stay with us, YOU handle her problems!" Sarah slammed the door shut behind her.

"I do not understand. All of my research indicates these to be improvements."

John breathed deep "Come here" he patted the bed beside him as he sat down. "Okay...So...It's like this...I just happen to think that even though some people would view it as an improvement, it's still fake, and that alone makes it a bad idea."

She failed to see the logic in his objections "But my entire organic structure is already an artificial construct. It was created by Skynet as a one-time copy of Allison Young. Alterations would not change that fact."

"Okay well...Look the point is that it's a copy of nature, correct?"

"Yes." She seemed transfixed by her shoes as the stared at her feet

"So in a way it's not artificial. If that makes any sense." He shook his head "Besides, you're very attractive just the way you are...Why change that? Somebody should like you for _who_ you are, not _what_ you are!"

"So...You _do_ find me attractive?" She locked her eyes with his

"Uhm..." John put his head in his hands 'Oops' "Well, yes. Beautiful, infact..."

"And you like _who_ I am?"

"Yes..."

"If you like who I am, and you find no flaws in my physical appearance..." She tilted her head just a bit "...then why do you choose Reilly instead of me?"

He raised an eyebrow "That's what this is about?"

"If artificial things are bad, you should know that her displays of affection for you are artificial too." Cameron's gaze seemed to be burning right through John

John breathed deep, his shoulders felt so heavy "She's...Wait, Why?"

"I do not know. But the fact remains that her words and actions are not genuine"

"Well...I guess that means she and I are through then...I always had a feeling she wasn't being truthful about what she wanted with me." He stretched his arms out over his head before he continued "So, I guess now you're going to ask if this means we can be a couple?" he smiled slightly

"Yes" She smiled, even blushing slightly reddish "I hope it does"

John chuckled quietly to himself before putting his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Yhea. Yhea, I think it does."

"John?" She looked up at him

"Yhea Cam?"

"Thank you for explaining..." She slowly moved closer

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Derek had dug up a pair of baseball gloves, and a rather battered old softball. He figured that maybe he could clear his head if he threw the old ball around with John for a bit. Besides, it made for good practice at throwing hand grenades. He knocked once on John's door before pushing it open

"Hey, how about you and your...Uncle Derek go...Throw the old baseball...John what the hell are you doing!?" John and Cameron were locked together by the lips. They weren't paying attention to him. "John that's sick!" Derek watched as John presented him his finger, not bothering to stop. Derek pulled the door shut as he left, fighting the urge to vomit. He wasn't sure what was worse, that John was falling to a terminator, or that he was falling for someone who was supposed to be his sister.

"Derek what is it?" Sarah came bounding up the stairs

"They're tonguing each other down."

"But she's posing as his sister!" Sarah twitched "That's...Kind of sick...."

"I know! I know already! Hey you didn't have to _see_ it! Look I don't like it either but it's better than blondie."

"Yhea...I'll give him that. OK remind me next time we move to make sure we figure out something other than the sister gig for her." She twitched again

"You'd beter!"

"Is that a baseball?"

"Yup, figured John and I could toss the old ball around a bit to help clear our heads out...But he's busy" Derek tossed the ball in the air

Sarah caught it "Anything as long as it's outside!"

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Sorry in advance if this is kind of rough. I didn't have anybody who could proofread and review for me. I'm looking foreword to hearing what you guys and gals think!

13percenter


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